Saturday, March 26, 2016

Until I got ordained, people rarely asked me theological questions.Now it's
different.Almost every daysomebody wants to get into some God-talk with
me.And I love it!Does God exist?Did Jesus really rise from the
dead?Is there really life after this
life?______________________________________I don't KNOW the
answers.But I have faith.And my faith, like the faith of those disciples
heading to Emmaus, comes from a lifetime of asking myself those very
questionsand coming up with answersthat led to more and more
questions.It's been a lifetime of seeing and thinkingand praying and
feelingand loving and doing,with points of serious awe and wonder at the
Holy Mysterywe call God.______________________________________I have
faith that God is.Along the way I have learned some things that God is
NOT,and that every idea or description or concept of Godthat I am able
to formis way too small.And I have faith that Jesus rose from the
dead.I have learned some things that does NOT mean,but, again, any words
I usefall short of the experienceof his continuous and unending presence
among us.And I have faith that there's life after life.I have learned
some things that does NOT mean,and I have found my idea of what it does
meangrows more and more expansivewith every discovery of scienceand
every experience of the impact of people I have known,even after they
died.______________________________________One useful thing I've
learnedis that it's important to explorethe definitions that give rise
to these God-talk questions.We're bombarded by assertions of atheists like
Richard Dawkinswho say there's no God…and of course there isn't, not a
God like Dawson has in mind,that white-bearded ancient malesitting on a
throne somewhere up there in the clouds.It's easy for Dawson—or for that
matter, any eighth grader—to debunk literal interpretationsof
descriptions of spiritual experiences of peoplewho lived thousands of years
ago in another culture.It's not so easy to jump into the processof
understanding the meaning of those experiencesfor us
today.______________________________________Those disciples on the road
to Emmaus,those followers in the Upper Room,and each of us make a leap
of faith,just like those other leaps we makeevery time we jump into the
unknown.We leap (or stumble) out of bed in the morningwith faith that
our feet will land on a floor that will hold us up.We reach out for that
morning cup of coffeewith faith that our eyes are telling us the
truthabout it being right there on the table.We take a leap of faith
when we confide in a friend,choose a vocation,get
married.______________________________________And sometimes we find
ourselveshanging out there on a shaky limb,flapping in the
breeze,finding our secrets laid bare to the worldon our friend's
Facebook,hating the job we thought would be good for us,finding our
spouse in an affair or abandoning us and the kids.Whether it's a personal
catastrophe or a crisis of faith,we usually reel around for a
whilebefore we are able to grab onto the hopethat leads us to action and
change.We eventually find that we still believethat true friendship is a
good thingand that it exists.We still believe that we can find a
jobthat will really fit our skills and preferences.We still believe that
good relationships existand that we will get through thisto enjoy the
company of many peoplewhom we can love and who will love
us.______________________________________The longer we live,the more
we see that, over and over again,we need to re-define ourselves and our
world,our experiences and our hopes,especially when it comes to the most
important things,like love and God.Sixteen hundred years
agoAugustine of Hippo talked abouthow human beings grow in
God-consciousness.He said, “What wonder is it that you do not
understand?If you do understand, then it is not God.”So even though we
don't have the answers, it's okay.We rest in confidence that the Holy
Mystery is always beyond,always more than anything we could have
imagined.______________________________________________We have all been
on that road to Emmaus many times in our lives,heading in the wrong
direction out of fear and disappointment.Then the Spirit breaks in and we
get turned around.We find Jesus alive,with us on the way,making
God's word clear to us once more.And we give thanksand celebrate that we
once againcome to recognize himin the breaking of the bread.